The perfect album, albums with no filler, albums that when over, leave you breathless and don't inspire you to want more music from the band, but make you want to listen to the album from the start, all over again; m b v is that album.

It’s as if they’ve recaptured innocence. It’s the only way to describe what you feel had to have happened in order for the band to preserve the very essence of what was the music of their youth, in such a way that goes beyond replication.

m b v creates a new timeline for My Bloody Valentine, and one that recalls the past in a broader and bolder light. They’re better for it, their catalog is stronger for it, and by album’s end, they’re still the best at swirling guitars.

While m b v is a record that is more than capable of standing on its own, at the same time it also sounds exactly like the sort of thing that we might have expected My Bloody Valentine to produce two decades ago, and this noticeable lack of allegiance to the present is perhaps the most potent thing about this entire revisionist affair.

You get lost in it, and if you're wired a certain way that mixture of desire and confusion is easy to map on to the wider world. For 22 years, the only way to get there was through Loveless and its associated EPs; now there's another path, one many of us never expected to find.

Against all odds, My Bloody Valentine managed to put together an album that keeps enough of the elements that made us cherish Loveless, while stretching their sonic palette just enough to keep things interesting.

It triumphs not as a continuation of a musical conversation that Isn’t Anything and Loveless began, but by forging its own distinct modern dialogue, one that at once sounds rooted in its own imaginative time and place, perhaps even dimension, with any telling outside influences dissipating as soon as the songs truly take their pleasurable hold.

Twenty-two years later, My Bloody Valentine is still the band everyone's talking about, and although it may not necessarily build on Loveless, there's no audible reason m b v shouldn't be spoken of in the same hushed, venerating tones.

The album’s major problem, more than anything, is that such a flabbergastingly brilliant end stretch hints at a better record that might have been, a furiously abrasive set of drum’n’gaze (sorry) that would have completely blindsided all of us, rather than the enjoyable grab bag of dreamy old and in yer face new that we in fact get.

There's clearly something here, there's an evolution in what Shields is doing. But, is it any good? Yes. Is it better than 'Loveless'? Probably not--and it's unfair to compare it to a predecessor that we've had two decades to live with and love. Given its gestation, it perhaps suffers from being a less cohesive body of work.

While there’s nothing quite as disorienting and alien as Loveless’s dramatic opening song, Only Shallow, there’s notable evolution in both the songwriting and sound, and the overall flow of the album actually seems tighter.

Yes, it's a fine album.... It's during the songs that shift the focus from chaos to ethereal mirth that the listener can fairly wonder about whether this album should be judged as simply a regular new offering or an (almost) lost treasure.

devastatingly good, and nearly miraculous given the fact that this album had 22 years of hype behind it. i agree with some reviewer who saiddevastatingly good, and nearly miraculous given the fact that this album had 22 years of hype behind it. i agree with some reviewer who said it's a third part opera old school mbv, new material, antidote i would actually simplify it guitars, synthesizers, percussion. the music is dynamic, some songs are forceful and ferocious, others are smooth, gentle, romantic, they all intertwine, they build on one another. it's a welcome resurgence of the beauty of the electric guitar, and a clear pointer towards new directions the band hopefully continues to follow. ace.…Full Review »

I am only 17, but when I was 11 and only beginning to dip my toes into alt rock, I discovered 2 albums made in 1991. Both unimaginablyI am only 17, but when I was 11 and only beginning to dip my toes into alt rock, I discovered 2 albums made in 1991. Both unimaginably brilliant, they changed my life. The one, the insanely popular and seminal Nevermind from Nirvana, the other an album whose stature grew from virtually nonexistant to being nearly as, and arguably even more, influential than Nevermind. The latter, was ofcourse Loveless. I was so confounded by its innovations and inventiveness and the harsh formless beauty of the songs, so much so that I scoured the Earth in search of albums that sound similar. Guess how that went.

I may have not had to wait 22 years like other fans, but I sort of grew comfortable with the idea that MBV would never release another album. Then the reunion happened. Rumours flew around about new songs, a possible album even. I shrugged it off. I did my research. These kinds of rumours go around every couple of years. But then the rumours started gaining momentum. I didn't want to get heartbroken, so i didn't want to pay attention, but really, I was as excited as a prepubescent girl who saw Justin Bieber. But I didn't really believe it. They said they mastered it on Facebook on the last Mayan calendar day. I still didn't believe it. In fact, I still don't. It all seems so surreal, which is extremely apt, because so does the music.

When I downloaded m b v, I was hesitant to press play. What if it didn't live up to the massive, massive expectations? Then i played it. The first third sounded like Loveless outtakes that shouldn't have been taken out. Woozy, loud, spiralling guitars and ambiguous vocals all there, and had the rest of the album been like that, it would've been amazing too. I mean, it's been 22 years and still nobody's come close to successfully reproducing Loveless. But that isn't how MBV play it. Instead, where Loveless was driven by relentless instrumental innovation, most of m b v is driven by strong songwriting, and supplimented by the still-all-these-years-later innovative production.

All in all this album is as beautiful and affecting a masterpiece as it should be, even if it hasn't usurped Loveless's position as the greatest shoegazing masterpiece ever. A well deserved 10/10…Full Review »

22 years after making the seminal shoegaze album of the 1990's, no band came close to achieving the level of success with droning guitars and22 years after making the seminal shoegaze album of the 1990's, no band came close to achieving the level of success with droning guitars and faded vocals, as My Bloody Valentine had. That is, until MBV. While it certainly is a step down from Loveless in terms of perfection, and is less erratically creative then the 1988 precursor Isn't Anything, MBV is still a step above all guitar rock today, because of the sound My Bloody Valentine has alone perfected. Whether it proves to be as timeless as it's predecessors may take another quarter century to determine, but surely this is a magnificent return, made by one of the most reclusive bands of all time.…Full Review »